Our Democratic leadership and Senators jumped the gun

– His initial, and by far the most critical accuser, Leeann Tweeden, was able to have her story fully accepted by the news media, without a hint of vetting, because she posted it on the website of her new radio station, an outlet with almost literally no ratings, or legitimate news operation.

– Her connections to Sean Hannity, Roger Stone’s tweet foreshadowing her announcement, and her own radio station admitting they strategized the best way to make the story go viral, were never fully analyzed.

– The media, presumably out of fear of “victim shaming” never even mentioned that prior to starting her brand-new career as a “news anchor,” that Tweeden was a nude model, which goes to the context of why she was on the 2006 USO tour, her lack of presumed journalistic credibility, and her willingness to do almost anything for attention/money.

2. Yes they did!

5. The "Democratic leadership and Senators" did exactly what they wanted to do;

they removed Al Franken from the political equation moving forward.

Franken was a threat to their status quo.

A Democratic party member who is prone to question the status quo is more danger and merits more action than a GOP that commits felonies, be it sex crimes or war crimes or financial conflicts of interest of questionable legality.

This should be obvious and needs to be addressed. if we are going to start winning elections again and advance the stated Democratic agendas.

8. or it's just another repuke hit job

11. He's been effectively fired. He CANNOT function in the Senate w/o the support...

He cannot function in the Senate w/o the support of his fellow Senators and the Democratic leadership. It's not possible.

It's a tightnit group. There are many committees, where they all work closely together. They meet each other daily to discuss things, talk over lunch, hash over things. They strategize, share information.

If the Senators give the cold shoulder to one Senator, he or she can't really do the job. He's been fired. ESPECIALLY if the leadership is in on it.

I think there will be a backlash over this. I know I won't forget it.

And trying to blame Franken for it is ludicrous. To respect the wishes of his co-Senators and the leadership does not make him weak. You don't fight your own team.

If there's anything else to come out...who knows. Doesn't matter, now. The issue is that it was IFFY enough to where he could be totally innocent. If he'd stayed, there WOULD HAVE BEEN more allegations, because that's what happens. They pile on. They probably would be more of the same...anonymous people, claiming vague things, with pictures that ironically don't SHOW those things...and on and on.

This has become a shark feeding frenzy. With the dull populace willing to believe even silly stories, now. This has gone too far.

We have lost one of the strongest, most popular, most articulate Senators...because of the weak Senators and leadership he worked with.

31. Shocking

27. Sadly, they did.............BUT

now they kinda turned things on the RNC.....hey Hypocrite - you let your Alabama citizen's define your moral turpitude and let's let Minnesota decide Sen. Fraken's.....you explain your candidates pedophilia and we will let the citizens of Minnesota decide his Al's moral character. Run again Al! There is no lose/lose for Democrats here, in Congress, with the Rev. Senator Moore taking office.

32. But the Democratic leadership now gets to polish their reputation...

...of "being at the forefront of rooting out sexual misconduct" (see the NYTimes' fawning portrait of Gillibrand in tomorrow's edition). Thus, they assume, strengthening their hold on the key demographic of women voters. (Recall that the persistent weakness of the Democratic Party in recent decades has been their wonkish reliance on demographics -- the notion that you can win by simply putting together a coalition of identity group blocs -- rather than ideological themes.)

The thing is, though, I've been noticing an interesting phenomenon today. Rather than the reaction to Franken's ouster running pretty much along gender lines, there's been a consistency of both male and female voices expressing outrage over how he was treated. In fact, I'd hazard a guess that I've seen more women upset at his apparent purge than men. If this is the case across the board, it would suggest that any hopes to cement the loyalties of politically-active women by this demonstration of "zero tolerance" may backfire badly.